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Comment by AnnoyingSwede | Hacker News Reader

Update: A few safety concerned readers mentioned: Top speed: My aim (until he is older) is 7-10km per hour, but with a torque that allows burnouts and donuts. A safety cage might become part of the build, just because better safe than sorry.

Will make sure this post can be read as soon as i can contact my webhosting company, hopefully tonight. Sorry about this!

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I'm also concerned for your son's safety. Is he strapped in? I seriously hurt myself when I was a kid in a dodgem car at a fairground when my face hit the steering wheel.

7-10km/h may not sound very fast, but trying jogging face-first into a lamppost at that speed and you'll soon change your mind.

A helmet is a must. I also added a seatbelt to mine, but it really doesn't make sense, the most common thing that will happen is it flips if he drives off a tall curb, and in that case you want to be able to easily get out from under it.

Agree got one. A wider wheelbase of the car, lower center of gravity, and wheels 50mm-100mm wider will help keeping it from tipping over. I have a seatbelt but like a few pointed out that might make the car more dangerous without a roll cage. Both are taken into consideration now.

Please consider some kind of roll cage if you're going to put a 2-3 year-old into this. In the United States we see a tremendous number of toddlers who are very, very badly injured (or killed) in ATV rollover injuries. Obviously an ATV is a much bigger and heavier vehicle than what you're doing (which is cool) but the mechanism itself of rolling a vehicle over onto a child can lead to a very devastating injury pattern.

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